Delhi Home Minister Ashish Sood on Tuesday said those who burst firecrackers beyond 10 pm on Diwali behaved "irresponsibly." The minister, however, emphasised that bursting firecrackers was not the sole cause behind the spike in pollution in the national capital.

"Delhi people should have completely followed the Supreme Court guideline under which firecrackers were allowed to be burst till 10 pm. It was irresponsible behaviour by those who celebrated the festival by breaking the court's guideline of 10 pm," Sood told PTI The Supreme court recently lifted the ban on sale and use of green firecrackers, approved by National Environmental Engineering and Research Institute (NEERI) in Delhi-NCR.

The court permitted the use of the approved firecrackers from 6 am to 7 am, and 8 pm to 10 pm, on

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